Residents in the tornado-battered town of Moore, Okla., spent the day trying to recover and clean up as the governor asked America to pray for Oklahoma.

More than 24 hours after a monster twister cut a 20-mile path of destruction across of Moore, Okla., the battered town is slowly coming to grips with the devastating reality around it.

The massive EF4 twister packed wind speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, killed at least 24 people, including seven children Monday.

"Just in the matter of 30 minutes, your whole life is -- whole life is torn upside down," one Moore resident said.

Resident Daniel Garbelman spent the day cleaning up debris and trying to salvage what's left of his home.

"Long time to clean up," he said. "It's going to take a while."

It's a scene that played out across the Oklahoma City suburb as emergency workers searched the ruins for survivors.

Watch dramatic before and after footage of Oklahoma resident Jason Ledger's neighborhood:

Meanwhile, President Obama offered his prayers and support to the people of Moore.

"The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, beside them, for as long as it takes," the president said Tuesday. "There are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms and bedrooms and classrooms and in time we're going to need to refill those spaces with love and laughter and community."

Some of the most heartbreaking stories have involved children, with the town's two schools taking a direct hit.

Briarwood Elementary was completely destroyed, but miraculously no one was killed.

"We were told to get in our tornado precaution systems," a student named Brady said.

It was a much different story, however, at Plaza Tower School where walls collapsed, killing seven children.

"We were pulling walls off of people," one rescue worker said. "There were people crawling out from everywhere and anywhere."

But despite the death and devastation the state's governor vows they'll bounce back.

"Oklahoma has gone through this a couple times and we're resilient, strong, courageous people," Gov. Mary Fallin said.

Forecasters warn the region is not out of the woods yet. The National Weather Service says the same storm system that brought Monday's twister could strike parts of north-central Texas, southeastern Oklahoma and northern Arkansas this evening.